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Plymouth gymnasts down Chargers on road at West Noble

LIGONIER — With a long layover since their last meet and a change of equipment at West Noble, Plymouth’s gymnastics team had to shake off a little rust Monday.
The Lady Pilgrims performed well enough to get the road win, defeating the Chargers, 95.9-81.275. The team had last competed nine days prior when they defeated Lowell in their first dual meet of the year.
“We were a bit rusty,” said PHS gymnastics coach Tony McPherron. “West Noble doesn’t have a spring floor either, just a carpet so when you combine the layoff and the fact we had to change routines because of the equipment I am okay with how they did.”
PHS swept the all-around for the second time in as many meets with sophomore Cassi Quissell, junior Nicky Davis, senior Traci Longanecker and freshman Karly Gruett finishing first through fourth, respectively. The quartet placed in the top six in every individual event as well, led by Quissell winning floor and beam, Davis winning bars, and the pair tying for first on vault.
“Our top four did well tonight, but we still have a lot of work to do,” said McPherron. “We scored seven falls on the varsity tonight, which is seven too many. If we want to compete at the state level we need to have that ideally at zero or one at most. Our top two can go places this year if they can correct that. “
With only a limited number of JV competitors due to injury and illness, the Pilgrims still did well there too, winning 35.3-23.2.
Junior Kaylee Vendola took first on bars and beam and second on vault. PHS senior Italian foreign exchange student Val Di Tizio, who had never done gymnastics prior to her arrival in Plymouth, earned her first ribbon of her career with a second place in the beam. Senior Katie Galloway also placed second on bars for the Pilgrim JV.
Plymouth will next travel Saturday to Merrillville for the Pirate Pride Invitational, one of Indiana’s premier tournaments, where 17 teams will be competing, including many in the top 20.
• PLYMOUTH 95.9,
WEST NOBLE 81.28
At Ligonier
Individual Scores (place in parenthesis)
Vault bars beam Fx AA
Traci Longanecker 8.45(3) 6.6(3) 6.15(5) 8.05(3) 27.4(3)
Nicky Davis 8.7(1) 8.2(1) 7.55(2) 8.05(3) 32.5(2)
Cassi Quissell 8.7(1) 7.7(2) 8.85(1) 8.9(1) 34.15(1)
Karly Gruett 8.0(5) 5.0(5) 6.05 7.45 26.5(4)
Katie Galloway 7.7
JV score: Plymouth 35.3, West Noble 23.2